Description
Brings us the imagined memoirs of the first black explorer of America--a Moroccan slave whose testimony was left out of the official record. In 1527, the conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez sailed from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda with a crew of six hundred men and nearly a hundred horses. His goal was to claim what is now the Gulf Coast of the United States for the Spanish crown and, in the process, become as wealthy and famous as Hernán Cortés. But from the moment the Narváez expedition landed in Florida, it faced peril--navigational errors, disease, starvation, as well as resistance from indigenous tribes. Within a year there were only four survivors: the expedition's treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; a Spanish nobleman named Alonso del Castillo Maldonado; a young explorer named Andrés Dorantes de Carranza; and Dorantes's Moroccan slave, Mustafa al-Zamori, whom the three Spaniards called Estebanico. These four survivors would go on to make a journey across America that would transform them from proud conquis-tadores to humble servants, from fearful outcasts to faith healers.… (more)
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Publication
Vintage (2015), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member Lori_Eshleman
A historical novel and a fine work of literature, The Moor’s Account recreates the failed Narváez expedition to Florida in the early 16th century from the point of view of the Moroccan slave Mustafa al-Zamori, called Estebanico by the Spanish. Narrated in the first person, the novel alternates
The back and forth narrative, told in the form of stories about different locations such as “The Story of the Island of Misfortune,” helps maintain suspense and interest. It also gives the novel the structure of an older mode of story-telling that is credible for the 16th century. Through Estebanico’s eyes, Lalami captures the sights, sounds, and smells of the exotic landscape in prose that is measured and evocative. Her narrator also takes note of the character and personality of the expedition leaders, including his owner Dorantes and the expedition treasurer Cabeza de Vaca, who in 1542 wrote a narrative of the expedition. In the course of this grueling ordeal, social differences and rank begin to dissolve, and hidalgo and slave become equal. But the question remains: once the survivors return to Spanish territory will these distinctions re-emerge? Will Estebanico win his freedom? And will treatment of the indigenous population of the Americas change? This novel offers the reader a new perspective on the Spanish exploration of North America, as well as a moving portrait of what it means to be a slave.
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between Estebanico’s earlier life--first as the son of a notary, then as a trader, and finally as a slave in Spain--and the expedition, in which some three hundred men are gradually whittled down to a handful, by disease, accident, and encounters with Indians. It is an adventure story, a kind of Lord of the Flies evocation of what happens to “civilized” men when they are lost in a wilderness that does not play by their rules or laws. Gradually they shed their Spanish clothing, their horses, their weapons, and even their language, until they become almost indistinguishable from the Indian groups with whom they are forced to live in order to survive. Estebanico, with his knowledge of Moorish medicine and of trade, is particularly skillful at adapting. He observes the encounter between Indians and Spanish with an outsider’s eye, who himself feels near-invisible. While to the Spanish he is an illiterate Christian convert, in his self-identity he is a literate Muslim with rich memories of the past. At times, when he dares to speak up or act, he unwittingly re-directs the expedition; for example, when he finds a gold pebble in an Indian village, which leads to a fruitless hunt for riches; or when he spots a shard of Spanish glass, which turns the small band toward New Spain and the recently conquered Aztec empire of Tenochtitlan.The back and forth narrative, told in the form of stories about different locations such as “The Story of the Island of Misfortune,” helps maintain suspense and interest. It also gives the novel the structure of an older mode of story-telling that is credible for the 16th century. Through Estebanico’s eyes, Lalami captures the sights, sounds, and smells of the exotic landscape in prose that is measured and evocative. Her narrator also takes note of the character and personality of the expedition leaders, including his owner Dorantes and the expedition treasurer Cabeza de Vaca, who in 1542 wrote a narrative of the expedition. In the course of this grueling ordeal, social differences and rank begin to dissolve, and hidalgo and slave become equal. But the question remains: once the survivors return to Spanish territory will these distinctions re-emerge? Will Estebanico win his freedom? And will treatment of the indigenous population of the Americas change? This novel offers the reader a new perspective on the Spanish exploration of North America, as well as a moving portrait of what it means to be a slave.
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LibraryThing member Castlelass
“It was slowly dawning upon all of us that Apalache had no gold and there would be no glory. My fantasies of victory for my master and freedom for me had turned so completely awry that, for a moment, all my senses felt numb. I was rooted in my spot, unable to move, and my eyesight blurred. I
This book is a fictionalized story based on a real expedition that took place in 1527 - 1536. Lalami creates a story around Mustafa, “The Moor,” a survivor of the Narváez expedition. His goal is to write what truly happened to the explorers sent to claim La Florida for the King of Spain. He intends to refute the “official” account, provided by Cabeza de Vaca, which leaves out anything that makes the explorers seem less than heroic.
As the story opens, protagonist Mustafa is living in Morocco with his mother, father, and brothers. He is an educated man who becomes a merchant, but when circumstances change, he feels he must sell himself into slavery to feed his family. He is renamed Estebanico by Spanish priests. He is purchased by a Spaniard who then offers him to Dorantes to pay a gambling debt. Dorantes takes him to the New World as part of the Narváez expedition.
This is the type of historical fiction I really enjoy. It is an adventure, filled with travels among the native peoples. We get a sense of what life was like in the 1500s in North America. It is believable that the official account would leave out anything that reflected poorly on those telling the story. It is based on the author’s extensive research, with sources provided in the appendix.
Toward the end, there are groups of Indians following the explorers, when they reconnect with the Spanish in Mexico. I felt like I wanted to warn them not to follow! Readers will know this part of history does not turn out well for them. The author made me care deeply about the protagonist and the native people of this historic period. I loved it!
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thought about that night, long ago in Azemmur, when I had agreed to sell my life for a bit of gold. My father and my mother had both warned me about the danger of putting a price on everything, but I had not listened. Now, years later, I had convinced myself that, because I had been the first to find gold in La Florida, my life would be returned to me. But life should not be traded for gold—a simple lesson, which I had had to learn twice.”This book is a fictionalized story based on a real expedition that took place in 1527 - 1536. Lalami creates a story around Mustafa, “The Moor,” a survivor of the Narváez expedition. His goal is to write what truly happened to the explorers sent to claim La Florida for the King of Spain. He intends to refute the “official” account, provided by Cabeza de Vaca, which leaves out anything that makes the explorers seem less than heroic.
As the story opens, protagonist Mustafa is living in Morocco with his mother, father, and brothers. He is an educated man who becomes a merchant, but when circumstances change, he feels he must sell himself into slavery to feed his family. He is renamed Estebanico by Spanish priests. He is purchased by a Spaniard who then offers him to Dorantes to pay a gambling debt. Dorantes takes him to the New World as part of the Narváez expedition.
This is the type of historical fiction I really enjoy. It is an adventure, filled with travels among the native peoples. We get a sense of what life was like in the 1500s in North America. It is believable that the official account would leave out anything that reflected poorly on those telling the story. It is based on the author’s extensive research, with sources provided in the appendix.
Toward the end, there are groups of Indians following the explorers, when they reconnect with the Spanish in Mexico. I felt like I wanted to warn them not to follow! Readers will know this part of history does not turn out well for them. The author made me care deeply about the protagonist and the native people of this historic period. I loved it!
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LibraryThing member pdill8
Told in the first person, the book is a historical fictionalization of a real Spanish conquistador expedition of La Florida, in search of gold. The only account of this abysmal failure was written by a Spanish servant of the crown- however one of the survivors - of which there were only 4!- was the
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Moroccan slave of one of the boat captains. This reimagined telling adds the nuance of conscience and cultural perspective to the story while bringing to life the perils of survival in 1500s North America. The situational ethics! Every chapter recalls a philosophical exercise. Good stuff! Show Less
LibraryThing member LibraryStuntwoman
A work of historical fiction set in the sixteenth century, Laila Lalami's The Moor's Account follows Mustafa, renamed Estebanico, from his early life in Morocco to his enslavement in Spain and his experiences accompanying the ill-fated expedition to Florida led by the Spanish conquistador Pánfilo
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de Narváez. As he yearns for freedom, Estebanico recounts how the conquistadors’ penchant for cruelty and longing for gold results in the deaths of the majority of the members of the expedition by disease, starvation, or at the hands of the indigenous peoples they had treated so brutally. One of only four men to endure for eight years in what is now the American Southwest, and the sole non-Castillian, Estebanico is almost entirely omitted from the accounts written by his fellow survivors. A richly detailed and engaging story of exploration and discovery, Lalami's The Moor's Account gives voice to a man whose story is otherwise lost to history. Show Less
LibraryThing member gayla.bassham
Well-written, but suffers from a common problem of novelized biographies -- real life does not provide neat plot points or satisfying story arcs. Much like real life, the story meandered.
LibraryThing member JGolomb
"Everything had already been loved and everything has already been told. If we only listened to the stories."
Estebanico, the North African slave who narrates "The Moor's Account"
In its most apparent aspect, Laila Lalami's "The Moor's Account" tells the story of the four survivors of Panfilo
The novel is actually about much more than the somewhat fantastical trials and tribulations of three spanish conquistadors and one lone slave. Lalami is clearly a fan of the art of storytelling. Her passion seeps through the pages of her novel, and through the well-written voice of Mustafa ibn Muhammad who's given the name Esteban when he sells himself into slavery.
"When I fell into slavery, I was forced to give up not just my freedom, but also the name that my mother and father had chosen for me. A name is precious; it carries inside it a language, a history, a set of traditions, a particular way of looking at the world."
- Mustafa
Lalami writes a strong voice in her character of Estebanico. She sets the right tone with his frank narration, brief dialogue, and insights from his internal monologue and simple plot elements. As the story progresses, the parallel plot threads of Mustafa's backstory and the expedition itself, take on more meaning and imbue the reader with the feeling that they will ultimately flow together and create something of significance.
Pafilo Narvaez, who made a rather notorious name for himself (and lost an eye) during Cortez' brutally successful campaign against Moctezuma, continued to seek his fame and fortune by pulling together an expedition to the new world of La Florida. A disaster almost from the outset, only four of the adventurers survived (and only barely at that), and in the process transformed themselves into traveling medicine men who came face-to-face with the horrors their own people had unleashed upon the New World natives.
"Telling a story is like sowing a seed--you always hope to see it become a beautiful tree…"
- Mustafa
The narrative itself is made up of stories; some longer, none particularly long. Within the narrative itself, the act of storytelling -- the listening and telling -- are recognized and accepted with high value. Mustafa says, "Reader, the joy of a story is in its telling. My feet were throbbing with pain and my stomach was growling with hunger, so I could not resist the pleasure that a tale would bring me."
As the four travelers wind their way across the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, they find that their collective modicum of medical knowledge is leaps beyond the natives' capabilities. The legend of their healing abilities precede them, but Mustafa confides that they actually knew very little and that "A good story can heal" as well as, or perhaps better, than the treatment itself.
Lalami's writing is trim and stark, though very literate. Interestingly, Lalami doesn't use quotation marks, which adds to the flow and almost dreamlike quality of the storytelling.
There were two drawbacks to the story. First, there was only a weak sense of location; since the story is based in fact, a map would've helped, there wasn't one with my advanced reader's copy - maybe there will be with the final published product. If not, readers should search the internet for maps of the journey told in this story. Second, aside from Mustafa, none of the other characters were particularly well drawn. The story itself, and the strength of Mustafa's character, successfully drive the narrative, but building out the complementary characters would also have added significantly to the tale.
I received this book through the Amazon Vine Program.
Estebanico, the North African slave who narrates "The Moor's Account"
In its most apparent aspect, Laila Lalami's "The Moor's Account" tells the story of the four survivors of Panfilo
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Narvaez' disastrous exploration of La Florida about a decade following Hernan Cortez' conquest of the Aztecs. In and of itself, this fictionalized retelling is full of action, a little love, and a lot of survival. Its focus is on Estebanico, a North African slave who warrants exactly one line of notice in the popularized relacion written by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca originally published in 1542. Lalami, though, chooses a wonderful lead for her novel, utilizing the accepted history of the events as a foundation upon which to build her piece historical fiction.The novel is actually about much more than the somewhat fantastical trials and tribulations of three spanish conquistadors and one lone slave. Lalami is clearly a fan of the art of storytelling. Her passion seeps through the pages of her novel, and through the well-written voice of Mustafa ibn Muhammad who's given the name Esteban when he sells himself into slavery.
"When I fell into slavery, I was forced to give up not just my freedom, but also the name that my mother and father had chosen for me. A name is precious; it carries inside it a language, a history, a set of traditions, a particular way of looking at the world."
- Mustafa
Lalami writes a strong voice in her character of Estebanico. She sets the right tone with his frank narration, brief dialogue, and insights from his internal monologue and simple plot elements. As the story progresses, the parallel plot threads of Mustafa's backstory and the expedition itself, take on more meaning and imbue the reader with the feeling that they will ultimately flow together and create something of significance.
Pafilo Narvaez, who made a rather notorious name for himself (and lost an eye) during Cortez' brutally successful campaign against Moctezuma, continued to seek his fame and fortune by pulling together an expedition to the new world of La Florida. A disaster almost from the outset, only four of the adventurers survived (and only barely at that), and in the process transformed themselves into traveling medicine men who came face-to-face with the horrors their own people had unleashed upon the New World natives.
"Telling a story is like sowing a seed--you always hope to see it become a beautiful tree…"
- Mustafa
The narrative itself is made up of stories; some longer, none particularly long. Within the narrative itself, the act of storytelling -- the listening and telling -- are recognized and accepted with high value. Mustafa says, "Reader, the joy of a story is in its telling. My feet were throbbing with pain and my stomach was growling with hunger, so I could not resist the pleasure that a tale would bring me."
As the four travelers wind their way across the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, they find that their collective modicum of medical knowledge is leaps beyond the natives' capabilities. The legend of their healing abilities precede them, but Mustafa confides that they actually knew very little and that "A good story can heal" as well as, or perhaps better, than the treatment itself.
Lalami's writing is trim and stark, though very literate. Interestingly, Lalami doesn't use quotation marks, which adds to the flow and almost dreamlike quality of the storytelling.
There were two drawbacks to the story. First, there was only a weak sense of location; since the story is based in fact, a map would've helped, there wasn't one with my advanced reader's copy - maybe there will be with the final published product. If not, readers should search the internet for maps of the journey told in this story. Second, aside from Mustafa, none of the other characters were particularly well drawn. The story itself, and the strength of Mustafa's character, successfully drive the narrative, but building out the complementary characters would also have added significantly to the tale.
I received this book through the Amazon Vine Program.
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LibraryThing member eenerd
Absolutely loved this intricate and voluptuous book. The characters and places were so well crafted, I was completely transported to the Portuguese and Spanish empires of the 16th century (that includes New Spain, gentle readers). Best book of its type that I've read in some time.
LibraryThing member bwhitner
This was a pretty good book. Really a 3.5 but closer to a four than a three rating. It moved a bit slow at times, but overall the story was entertaining. It is about a Spanish expedition that goes terribly wrong. Disease, fighting, and other calamities killed the men. Somehow these four men
My favorite quote: Telling a story is like sowing a seed - you always hope to see it become a beautiful tree, with firm roots and branches that soar up in the sky. But it is a peculiar sowing, for you will never know whether your seed sprouts or dies.
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survived. They were with the Indians for such a long time, it became part of them.My favorite quote: Telling a story is like sowing a seed - you always hope to see it become a beautiful tree, with firm roots and branches that soar up in the sky. But it is a peculiar sowing, for you will never know whether your seed sprouts or dies.
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LibraryThing member bodachliath
A powerful and richly imagined historical fantasy, telling the story of a Moorish slave who survived the disastrous Narvaez expedition to Florida and the three Spaniards who journeyed with him to Mexico. Ultimately this is less historical fiction and more about the redemptive power of storytelling.
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A rewarding, thought-provoking and moving read. Show Less
LibraryThing member fvg
3/4 of a good book. Most of the book is well done: good story, well written, but the book fizzles to a blunt abbreviated ending.
The book is about the moor, Estibanico, and he is an interesting and good man and you get caught up in his adventures. A few of his fellow adventurers are adequately
The book is about the moor, Estibanico, and he is an interesting and good man and you get caught up in his adventures. A few of his fellow adventurers are adequately
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developed, but most of the natives are not and the spaniards are deeply religious, amoral, greedy conquered wannabes. Show Less
LibraryThing member ritaer
A tale of the failed expedition to Florida survived by only three Spaniards and one Moorish slave. Told from the point of view of the slave, an imagined account. Very interesting.
LibraryThing member repb
A fascinating account of a black Moor from Azenmor, Morocco, as he travels as a slave to Florida and crosses the southwest into Mexico City. Based on actual events of the trip of Cabeza de Vaca in the 1500s. Well written and carefully researched. I learned about this man on a trip I made to Azenmor
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a few years ago. Show Less
LibraryThing member janerawoof
From one sentence in the writings of Cabeza de Vaca, an early explorer of Florida, the author has fashioned this engrossing, sympathetic novel of memoirs of the Moroccan slave, Estabanico. As he himself explains, they are to correct the sanitized version of this expedition to Florida sent back to
The novel was interesting as showing the relations between the survivors and the customs of the different Indian tribes with whom the men lived. I kept reading to see how the men survived the different hardships which they endured. I wish there had been a glossary of unfamiliar terms, among them the Muslim terms.
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the king of Spain. Estabanico [originally Mustafa] and his family in North Africa, fall upon hard times and the young man sells himself into slavery and gives the proceeds from the sale to his brother. Eventually, Estabanico ends up the slave of an explorer on an expedition to find gold in Florida. The failure of the expedition leads to many deaths and other misfortunes. The survivors live among different Indian tribes and Estabanico and companions become healers. After trying unsuccessfully to gain his freedom which his owner had promised then reneged upon, Estabanico is sent with another expedition further west to find more cities of gold. The novel was interesting as showing the relations between the survivors and the customs of the different Indian tribes with whom the men lived. I kept reading to see how the men survived the different hardships which they endured. I wish there had been a glossary of unfamiliar terms, among them the Muslim terms.
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LibraryThing member jmoncton
In the US, we’ve learned about the colonization of America, from the European point of view, and more recently, learning about the Native American side of the story. Laila Lalami’s novel tells the story through the eyes of a third party bystander, Mustafa, a Moor, who voluntarily sold himself
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into slavery to the Spaniards to provide for his starving family. The story takes you from the markets of Morocco, to Spain, across the Atlantic to the colony of Florida. On a doomed expedition, Mustafa – renamed by the Spaniards to become Estabanico – and a troop of Spaniards tramp through the swamps getting ambushed by the different tribes of Native Americans, in search of cities filled with gold and treasure. What I found fascinating about this story is the study of 3 completely different cultures, the Spanish, the Moorish, and the Native American, each with their own customs and religions, and each with the capacity for compassion as well as incredible brutality. Very fascinating historical fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
We tell stories both to others and to ourselves. They are seldom written down but once in a great while a writer with imagination may create a story about a real event. That is what the Moroccan-born author Laila Lalami has done with The Moor’s Account. Her novel is a fictional memoir written by
The expedition splits up and Mustafa and his master travel with one group over the land and discovers the city of Apalache, but there is no gold. To make matters worse, they are running low on supplies and have become lost in the unknown land. They try to find a Spanish port where they can get help, but there’s nothing to be find. Narváez refuses to give up the idea that there might be gold nearby. He keeps interrogating the Indians for information. He pushes onward, but the expedition is plagued with sickness, a lack of supplies, and constant attack from the natives.
Throughout the journey, Mustafa reminisces on his past. His family wanted him to become a notary when he was younger, but he defied their wishes and became a merchant. He was fascinated with being a merchant because of how much money they made. His desire for money continued to grow and he soon found himself trading slaves. When the town came under siege, he lost his job and struggled to make any money. With no other way to take care of his family, he sold himself into slavery.
The expedition soon falls apart and the survivors are scattered throughout the region. Mustafa and his master along with some of his other companions manage to find a friendly Indian tribe. Mustafa learns their language and customs and gets help for the expedition. Disease forces them to move once again, their numbers much smaller. Madness begins to set in for some of the survivors, who desert the group and end up resorting to cannibalism. A few members give up on returning home and try to find home among the Indians.
Through all of this Mustafa feels terrified, but also free on his journey. The survivors continue to dwindle in number until there are only four left. Together, they become legends among the different tribes thanks to their medical knowledge. Soon, they are all wed by the tribe. They spend years traveling together, treating different tribes and gathering a large group of followers. Eventually, they run into fellow Castilians, who bring them to New Spain. While welcomed by there own Mustafa finds he is a slave once again. To make matters worse, his wife is enslaved alongside him. The final sections of the story are suspenseful as the reader wonders if Mustafa will ever gain his freedom and with it a return home or some other outcome that will allow his wife to live with him on their own.
Lalami creates a believable account of the expedition from the Moor's viewpoint. This is provides a much different perspective than that of the Conquistadors. Thus the reader has a different view of the Native Americans and their surroundings that they met along the way. This is historical fiction at its best that I would recommend to all who have an interest in the history of the exploration of the Americas.
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Mustafa ibn Muhammad, a Moroccan slave who participated with a Castilian exploration group exploring La Florida. The story tells how Mustafa, who is owned by Señor Dorantes, a captain assigned to the expedition, becomes part of this exploration of the land. They change direction when they discover trace amounts of gold in one of the Indian villages. The leader of the expedition, governor Narváez, captures a group of Indians and he forcibly obtains information from them about a fabled capital city known as Apalache, which is supposed to be filled with even more gold.The expedition splits up and Mustafa and his master travel with one group over the land and discovers the city of Apalache, but there is no gold. To make matters worse, they are running low on supplies and have become lost in the unknown land. They try to find a Spanish port where they can get help, but there’s nothing to be find. Narváez refuses to give up the idea that there might be gold nearby. He keeps interrogating the Indians for information. He pushes onward, but the expedition is plagued with sickness, a lack of supplies, and constant attack from the natives.
Throughout the journey, Mustafa reminisces on his past. His family wanted him to become a notary when he was younger, but he defied their wishes and became a merchant. He was fascinated with being a merchant because of how much money they made. His desire for money continued to grow and he soon found himself trading slaves. When the town came under siege, he lost his job and struggled to make any money. With no other way to take care of his family, he sold himself into slavery.
The expedition soon falls apart and the survivors are scattered throughout the region. Mustafa and his master along with some of his other companions manage to find a friendly Indian tribe. Mustafa learns their language and customs and gets help for the expedition. Disease forces them to move once again, their numbers much smaller. Madness begins to set in for some of the survivors, who desert the group and end up resorting to cannibalism. A few members give up on returning home and try to find home among the Indians.
Through all of this Mustafa feels terrified, but also free on his journey. The survivors continue to dwindle in number until there are only four left. Together, they become legends among the different tribes thanks to their medical knowledge. Soon, they are all wed by the tribe. They spend years traveling together, treating different tribes and gathering a large group of followers. Eventually, they run into fellow Castilians, who bring them to New Spain. While welcomed by there own Mustafa finds he is a slave once again. To make matters worse, his wife is enslaved alongside him. The final sections of the story are suspenseful as the reader wonders if Mustafa will ever gain his freedom and with it a return home or some other outcome that will allow his wife to live with him on their own.
Lalami creates a believable account of the expedition from the Moor's viewpoint. This is provides a much different perspective than that of the Conquistadors. Thus the reader has a different view of the Native Americans and their surroundings that they met along the way. This is historical fiction at its best that I would recommend to all who have an interest in the history of the exploration of the Americas.
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LibraryThing member greeniezona
I cannot tell you how many times I picked up this book in the bookstore before I bought it -- drawn in by its lovely cover and interesting title. I don't know why I kept putting it back down. But I'm glad I finally carried it to the register.
There are so many things that I loved in this book that I
So much of this story is horrifying to the modern reader -- and I don't mean the mysterious diseases, the starvation, or even the occasional cannibalism. I mean the utter hubris of a group of explorers reading a proclamation to an empty beach about how this land now belongs to God, therefore the crown, therefore us, and therefore you (reminder, the absent you, who never heard the proclamation because you weren't there) will comply with everything we say or we will make war with you. A thing that was real and apparently happened all the time. And that proclamation gave them authority to torture, steal, rape, desecrate, and destroy their way across the continent. But then when the expedition floundered, and handfuls of survivors found themselves dependent on various tribes of natives, oh the bitching and whining at how they were treated!
Maybe this is the era Trump is nostalgic for when he wants to make America great again. He and his fondness for Andrew Jackson. Back when rich white representatives of power could do anything they liked with anyone who was not. "Oh, don't worry!" says the smiling man in charge! "They're not slaves, we're much more civilized than that now!" as he steadfastly refuses to release a group of natives, and nimbly deflects all questions as to why they're being held in the first place.
It's not survival porn, though. Mustafa as a narrator keeps us grounded in humanity, with his longing for home, with his empathy, with his desire to be free.
Such a wonderful book. And important for these times.
There are so many things that I loved in this book that I
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don't know where to begin. From Mustafa's childhood -- in love with the bustle of the marketplace despite the disapproval of his father, who wants him to follow in his footsteps as a notary -- to the indignities of his life as a slave in Spain, where it doesn't take lashings or beatings to drive home that the very denial of self is violence -- to the rising sense of dread when the tiny band of survivors' time in the wilderness comes to an end, and they are brought into contact with "civilization" once again. Really, once the story reached that last stage I couldn't stop reading -- hunched over my book while I faked my way through the motions of interacting with my family -- then staying up way into the wee hours of the night to finish.So much of this story is horrifying to the modern reader -- and I don't mean the mysterious diseases, the starvation, or even the occasional cannibalism. I mean the utter hubris of a group of explorers reading a proclamation to an empty beach about how this land now belongs to God, therefore the crown, therefore us, and therefore you (reminder, the absent you, who never heard the proclamation because you weren't there) will comply with everything we say or we will make war with you. A thing that was real and apparently happened all the time. And that proclamation gave them authority to torture, steal, rape, desecrate, and destroy their way across the continent. But then when the expedition floundered, and handfuls of survivors found themselves dependent on various tribes of natives, oh the bitching and whining at how they were treated!
Maybe this is the era Trump is nostalgic for when he wants to make America great again. He and his fondness for Andrew Jackson. Back when rich white representatives of power could do anything they liked with anyone who was not. "Oh, don't worry!" says the smiling man in charge! "They're not slaves, we're much more civilized than that now!" as he steadfastly refuses to release a group of natives, and nimbly deflects all questions as to why they're being held in the first place.
It's not survival porn, though. Mustafa as a narrator keeps us grounded in humanity, with his longing for home, with his empathy, with his desire to be free.
Such a wonderful book. And important for these times.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
I have mixed feelings about The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami, on the one hand it was a fascinating story presented as the memoirs of a black Moroccan slave who accompanied his master on the 1527 exploration of what was to become the Gulf Coast of the United States. The leader of the expedition,
The drawback for me was that I listened to an audio version of the book as narrated by Neil Shah which presented a number of problems for me. First I found it very difficult to keep the many characters straight as to my uneducated ear, the Spanish names often sounded the same. While the narrator had the Castilian accent down pat, I found his voice quite irritating and his performance at times rather over wrought. Woman’s voices were particularly irritating, they all sounded like simpering fools. I think if I had read this book rather than listened, I would have loved it, instead I found my constant irritation pulled me away from the story.
It’s hard to give this book a rating as I believe it would have been four plus stars if I had read the book whereas as an audio that rating comes down to a 2. So I have decided not to give this book a numbered rating as I don’t want my feelings about the narrator’s interpretation to take away from the excellent writing and research that produced such an interesting story based on actual history.
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Panfilo de Narvez brought with him a crew of about 600 men and 100 horses. His goal was to claim this area for the Spain, and to acquire wealth and acclaim for himself. Unfortunately this expedition seemed to be cursed, they faced resistance from the natives, made navigational errors, and suffered from starvation and disease. Within a year, there were only four survivors, one of which was our narrator, Mustafa al-Zamori. The drawback for me was that I listened to an audio version of the book as narrated by Neil Shah which presented a number of problems for me. First I found it very difficult to keep the many characters straight as to my uneducated ear, the Spanish names often sounded the same. While the narrator had the Castilian accent down pat, I found his voice quite irritating and his performance at times rather over wrought. Woman’s voices were particularly irritating, they all sounded like simpering fools. I think if I had read this book rather than listened, I would have loved it, instead I found my constant irritation pulled me away from the story.
It’s hard to give this book a rating as I believe it would have been four plus stars if I had read the book whereas as an audio that rating comes down to a 2. So I have decided not to give this book a numbered rating as I don’t want my feelings about the narrator’s interpretation to take away from the excellent writing and research that produced such an interesting story based on actual history.
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LibraryThing member Perednia
Winners may control the narrative, but in Laila Lalami's latest novel, who wins and who gets to tell the true story depends on how one views it.
The Moor's Account is based on one line in a report of a Spanish expedition to the New World in the 16th century. Nothing is known about the black slave
Mustafa is the hard-working and greedy son of a trader who takes his life and freedom for granted. When his Moroccan city is captured by the Portuguese, times get hard and his family struggles for the basics. He decides the way to save the others is to sell himself into slavery. His years working for a Spanish merchant offer few moments of happiness, and his loyalty and ability to help his master make a fortune are not appreciated. He ends up the slave of a soldier traveling to the New World to seek gold and lands for the king of Spain in New Florida.
Just as hubris helped lead to his downfall in his native city, ignorant pride leads to disaster for the Spaniards. Their journey through the wilderness does not lead to the gold they thought would be found easily. As their number dwindle and they are reduced to the most base forms of trying to survive, Mustafa, who was renamed Esteban, then Estebanico, finds ways to survive and thrive.
Mustafa's inherent dignity and willingness to meet the circumstances of each day as they find him, or his resilience, are shown more than told about in the novel. Indeed, every aspect of the novel is subtle, whether it's how Mustafa and the Indians are regarded by the Spaniards, or the small differences in how individuals view the world and their changing circumstances.
Written in a highly formalized fashion, The Moor's Account is more like a series of fables than a fast-paced novel. There are adventures aplenty, but the action is not the point It is the appreciation for the sun, the rain, food and good company you can count on that matters. It is the opportunity to tell one's story so that one is not forgotten.
The Moor's Account is based on one line in a report of a Spanish expedition to the New World in the 16th century. Nothing is known about the black slave
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who survived, but that one line was enough for Moroccan-born Lalami to weave a tale of many stories in a densely packed novel.Mustafa is the hard-working and greedy son of a trader who takes his life and freedom for granted. When his Moroccan city is captured by the Portuguese, times get hard and his family struggles for the basics. He decides the way to save the others is to sell himself into slavery. His years working for a Spanish merchant offer few moments of happiness, and his loyalty and ability to help his master make a fortune are not appreciated. He ends up the slave of a soldier traveling to the New World to seek gold and lands for the king of Spain in New Florida.
Just as hubris helped lead to his downfall in his native city, ignorant pride leads to disaster for the Spaniards. Their journey through the wilderness does not lead to the gold they thought would be found easily. As their number dwindle and they are reduced to the most base forms of trying to survive, Mustafa, who was renamed Esteban, then Estebanico, finds ways to survive and thrive.
Mustafa's inherent dignity and willingness to meet the circumstances of each day as they find him, or his resilience, are shown more than told about in the novel. Indeed, every aspect of the novel is subtle, whether it's how Mustafa and the Indians are regarded by the Spaniards, or the small differences in how individuals view the world and their changing circumstances.
Written in a highly formalized fashion, The Moor's Account is more like a series of fables than a fast-paced novel. There are adventures aplenty, but the action is not the point It is the appreciation for the sun, the rain, food and good company you can count on that matters. It is the opportunity to tell one's story so that one is not forgotten.
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LibraryThing member imyril
I like a bit of historical fiction from time to time – especially if its an opportunity to learn about a period I know very little about. I was cautious in approaching The Moor’s Account – our only surviving historical account of the expedition is of questionable accuracy – but intrigued by
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the opportunities intrinsic in telling their tale from a slave’s point of view. And this disastrous foray into a hostile New World makes for a great story (if at times a repetitive one). Full review
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LibraryThing member kayanelson
Once you read The Moor's Account you can understand why it was short-listed for a Pulitzer. This historical fiction novel of the Narvaez expedition to La Florida is a compelling read. As I read each chapter, I just wanted to keep reading the next one. It's so wonderfully written. It's not
I actually think I would potentially read this book again.
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particularly dense with historic facts and at one point I was thinking that it was getting a little repetitive but not really because I wanted to know what happened next.I actually think I would potentially read this book again.
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LibraryThing member oacevedo
I tried. I read past the first chapter, and past the first one hundred pages. I just couldn't get into this book. I'm not sure what it was exactly. Maybe it was that I wasn't initially hooked. Maybe it was that I felt distance between me and the narrator. Maybe it was the setting, particularly the
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march for conquest and gold in Florida. I did like the flashbacks to the narrator's childhood/youth in Morocco, but that was such a small part of the narrative. And that's why I'm giving it two stars. Maybe I could have continued trying to find little oases, but I shouldn't have to... Show Less
LibraryThing member SocProf9740
This is such a great novel. It takes its premise from historical facts: the ill-fated Narvaez expedition, chronicled by Cabeza de Vaca, and titled "The Account". The main character is actually the fourth survivor of the expedition, a Moor (re)named Estebanico. Since nothing is really known about
Highly recommended.
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this person, in the book, he becomes the narrator of the alternative history to the accounts from the Castilian survivors. So, the novel follows the tribulation of the Moor, from his childhood in Azemmour (Morocco), to New Spain, the progressive decimation of the expedition, and the eight years the survivors spent with various native tribes, and finally, their return to Spanish society in America. So, this is a narrative from a non-privileged figure that stands as fictional alternative to the (probably also somewhat fictional) narrative provided by Cabeza de Vaca. After all, writing history is a matter of privilege.Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
The is the 2nd book that I have read by Lalami. The first"The Other Americans" was a 5 star for me. The Moors Account was written before this and was well received including being short listed for the Pulitzer and long listed for the Booker. She takes the historical 1527 Narvaez Spanish expedition
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to Florida and views it from the perspective of a Moorish Slave who was one of only 4 survivors out of the 600 men and 100 horses that made the initial voyage. It was 8 years later that the 4 made it to Mexico and were reunited with the Spanish invaders. The book chronicles all of the hardships that this expedition encountered. By giving a back story to Mustafa and viewing everything through his eyes, we are able to see the brutality of the Spanish and the devastation they brought to the Americas through diseases and destruction to the existing Indians cultures. The style Lalami used with very slow with the evolution of the 4 survivors into being involved with the Indian people they encountered. Mustafa eventually is treated as a healer and all the men eventually took Indian wives. The book does an excellent job of showing the misconceptions that the Spanish brought to the Americas and that in many cases the Indians were willing to be cooperative but the racism of the Spanish took precedence so that they treated the Indians as sub human. It really shows how European colonialism has led the to continuing divide between the developed and developing world. This is worthwhile book for its historical perspective. Show Less
LibraryThing member tangledthread
This is one of our book group's books that I just couldn't finish reading. There is so much graphic violence. I understand that to deny such brutality took place minimizes the horrors of human slavery, but one can only take in so much.
LibraryThing member bookmuse56
I was looking forward to reading this book when I first heard that Laila Lalami would write a fictionalized account of Estebanico as I knew she would provide the necessary insight on Morocco and a Moroccan point-of-view of the 1500s. This book exceeded my expectations.
There are many accounts of
The beginning alternates with chapters of all the pomp and arrogance of the Spaniards decisions and Mustafa telling his life before he was a slave allowing us to see the complex layered reality of his situation. Wonderful storytelling and a fresh robust take of an arduous adventure makes this a book to be read by all interested in early American history and conquest.
As the saying goes – the only new history is history yet to be discovered and I graciously thank the author for her time and research for a thoughtful informative book.
There are many accounts of
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the Narvaez expedition and what happened in the years 1527 – 1536, when the four survivors (out of 600) were reunited with other Spaniards. Among the survivors was a Moroccan slave known in the accounts by his enslaved name Esteban or Estebanico. At last is a compelling historical fiction account giving a voice to the first known black explorer of the New World. I enjoyed how Lalami through her graceful language and journal-like format places the reader in the narrator’s hands, giving him an identity other than a slave – Mustafa al-Zamori.The beginning alternates with chapters of all the pomp and arrogance of the Spaniards decisions and Mustafa telling his life before he was a slave allowing us to see the complex layered reality of his situation. Wonderful storytelling and a fresh robust take of an arduous adventure makes this a book to be read by all interested in early American history and conquest.
As the saying goes – the only new history is history yet to be discovered and I graciously thank the author for her time and research for a thoughtful informative book.
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Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2015)
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2016)
Pulitzer Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 2015)
American Book Award (2015)
Arab American National Museum Book Award (Winner — Adult Fiction — 2015)
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (Nominee — 2015)
David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction (Director's Mention — 2014)
NPR: Books We Love (2014)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2014-09-09